Review: “Widows”

2.5 out of 5 stars. “Widows” is a film that has everything going for it. It’s directed by Steve McQueen (“12 Years a Slave”) with a screenplay co-written by McQueen and “Gone Girl” author Gillian Flynn. It has a stellar ensemble cast, including the likes of Viola Davis, Liam Neeson, Daniel Kaluuya, Michelle Rodriguez, and […]

Review: “The Girl in the Spider’s Web”

2 out of 5 stars. “The Girl in the Spider’s Web” looks and feels like it has all the hallmarks of a good spy thriller. But while it draws heavily on those elements, including cool tech, high speed chases, shoot-outs, and a clever heroine, it falls to make a human connection between its characters and, in […]

Review: “Venom”

2 out of 5 stars. “Venom” is an awful movie. It’s so mind-numbingly stupid, it’s difficult to believe that it was made with (likely) all seriousness. But there’s something so wacky in the film’s violence and humor, in addition to a strong lead performance by Tom Hardy, that it enters the realm of movies that […]

Review: “Mission: Impossible- Fallout”

4.5 out of 5 stars. The “Mission: Impossible” film franchise has a lot in common with its leading man, Tom Cruise. They’re both relentless, and never seem to know when to stop or how to slow down. But they also age gracefully while managing to pull out some new tricks to impress audiences. And while […]

Review: “Skyscraper”

2.5 out of 5 stars. “Skyscraper” is a take on “Die Hard” that is exactly what you’d think it is, and at the same time, doesn’t deliver enough. It’s diverting for a couple of hours, sure, but everything about it is mediocre, from the lazy title to the characters to the story to even the […]

Review: “Ant-Man and the Wasp”

3.5 out of 5 stars. “Ant-Man and the Wasp,” the sequel to what is likely the most low-key of all the Marvel films, comes to theaters less than three months after the release of the huge and highly-anticipated “Avengers: Infinity War.” The latter film was high-stakes and emotionally draining, which is part of the reason […]

Review: “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom”

3 out of 5 stars. The dinosaurs are out of the park and into the great big world, as “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom,” the sequel to the 2015 reboot of the “Jurassic Park” series, starts to live up to that title. The film picks up three years after the destruction of the park in “Jurassic […]

Review: “Rampage”

1.5 out of 5 stars. “Rampage,” a new action movie directed by Brad Peyton and starring Dwayne Johnson, is based on a 1986 arcade game of the same name, a bit of trivia that I actually wasn’t familiar with going into the movie. But it makes sense to me now, as “Rampage” is so simplistic, […]

Review: “Ready Player One”

2.5 out of 5 stars. It’s one thing for a film to reference or pay homage to pop culture figures; it’s quite another thing for a film to entirely revolve around said references. In some cases, this has worked splendidly: 1988’s “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” is a modern classic in which iconic cartoon characters coexist […]

Review: “Pacific Rim Uprising”

1.5 out of 5 stars. Hey, do like watching giant monsters fight giant robots? Did you love the movie “Pacific Rim”? Then boy, is this not the movie for you. It’s like Godzilla, but it isn’t quite Godzilla. It’s also like Transformers, but it’s not quite Transformers. Its style is derived somewhat from Japanese anime, […]